Cleared Bellamy ready for recall, says Rafa

RAFAEL BENITEZ is likely to throw Craig Bellamy straight back into action to allow the Welshman to get his court room ordeal out of his mind.

The striker emerged from Cardiff magistrates’ court just three hours before Liverpool’s kick-off against Portsmouth on Wednesday, with his name cleared after being found not guilty of two assault charges.

But the Liverpool boss believes that the pressures of the five-day hearing and the nine months the case took to get to trial, had been weighing on Bellamy’s mind more than he had revealed.

Benitez claims Bellamy has been unable to sleep because of the strain of the hearing. But the Wales international will be back in full training for the final two days of this week after being able to do some fitness work using Cardiff’s facilities.

And Benitez has confirmed that the 27-year-old will be in the squad at Wigan tomorrow. Benitez has clearly been worried by Bellamy’s state of mind, with reports appearing about interest from Spurs and a possible swap for Jermain Defoe.

Benitez said: “It is important that this is over as far as he is concerned. It is good that he can now focus on football and that he will start to play to his true level and we will see some good goals from him.

“I have seen some interest in him, but only in the media. We are not thinking about swapping him for anyone, all we want is to see him scoring goals.”

Liverpool certainly needed Bellamy’s pace and scoring ability in the frustrating 0-0 draw with Portsmouth, where victory would have put them into the top four. All they managed was to leapfrog Everton and Reading into seventh.

Doubts have already been raised in Cardiff by Bellamy’s solicitor Matthew de Maid over whether the case should have even gone to court after District Judge John Charles criticised the “serious discrepancies in the prosecution case”.

De Maid said: “It begs the question why and for whose benefit this case was brought against Mr Bellamy. If it hadn’t been Mr Bellamy, I doubt whether this case would have ever been brought to court.”

Now Bellamy, must pick up his career, and quickly because of Liverpool’s injury crisis.

Benitez said: “At the weekend we tried to bring him back from Cardiff for the City game, we wanted to have him here thinking about football. But it was difficult. He was tired, he couldn’t sleep. This time it was better to leave him at home in Cardiff after the hearing and not try to rush him back.

“That would really have been a waste of time after the way things worked out at the weekend when he could only be used as a late substitute. This time he has rested overnight and will return to us in a better frame of mind.

“I don’t know whether he will need extra training, but maybe that is not important. We have a lot of injuries and he is at least fit!”

He added: “We will say to him, ‘come on, you are fit and you can help us.’ He could probably play straight away because he must be desperate to get back on the pitch. I will see how he trains, but also the other strikers and how they are. But I am pleased it is all over now for him and he can concentrate only on his football. It will be a relief.”

Liverpool may have midfielder Xabi Alonso back from injury at Wigan, but that seems a long shot, and they may well have to continue with Jamie Carragher in a holding midfield role.